Brief biography of barack obama
With his win, Obama became only the third African American elected to the U. Senate since Reconstruction.
Biography of barack obama early life
Sworn into office on January 3, , Obama partnered with Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia. Then, with Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, he created a website to track all federal spending. In February , Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
He was locked in a tight battle with then-U. He campaigned on an ambitious agenda of financial reform, alternative energy, and reinventing education and health care—all while bringing down the national debt. Because these issues were intertwined with the economic well-being of the nation, he believed all would have to be undertaken simultaneously.
When he took office at age 47, Obama inherited a global economic recession, two ongoing foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the lowest-ever international favorability rating for the United States. They are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
Obama coaxed Congress to expand health care insurance for children and provide legal protection for women seeking equal pay. Housing and credit markets were put on life support, with a market-based plan to buy U. The government made loans to the auto industry, and new regulations were proposed for Wall Street. Obama cut taxes for working families, small businesses, and first-time home buyers.
He reached out to improve relations with Europe, China, and Russia and to open dialogue with Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. He lobbied allies to support a global economic stimulus package. He committed an additional 21, troops to Afghanistan and set an August date for withdrawal of nearly all U. Obama was an early opponent of President George W.
In more dramatic incidents, Obama ordered an attack on pirates off the coast of Somalia and prepared the nation for a swine flu outbreak. He signed an executive order banning excessive interrogation techniques and ordered the closing of the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba within a year—a deadline that ultimately would not be met.
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Obama signed his signature health care reform plan, the Affordable Care Act, into law in March The new law prohibited the denial of coverage based on preexisting conditions, allowed citizens under 26 years old to be insured under parental plans, provided for free health screenings for certain citizens, and expanded insurance coverage and access to medical care to millions of Americans.
In October , a dispute over the federal budget and Republican desires to defund or derail the Affordable Care Act caused a day shutdown of the federal government. The rollout of the reforms were initially bumpy. October saw the failed launch of HealthCare. Extra technical support was brought in to work on the troubled website, which was plagued with glitches for weeks.
The health care law was also blamed for some Americans losing their existing insurance policies, despite repeated assurances from Obama that such cancellations would not occur. The legislation has faced numerous challenges in court and wound up at the U. Supreme Court three times. In the summer of , the Supreme Court upheld part of the Act regarding health care tax subsidies.
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Without these tax credits, buying medical insurance might have become too costly for millions of people. The latest Supreme Court decision about the Affordable Care Act began in when Congressional Republicans dropped the individual mandate tax penalty to zero. Texas and 17 other Republican states quickly sued to strike down the Affordable Care Act, mainly based on their opposition to its individual mandate.
A Texas federal judge ruled in favor of the suit, saying that because there was no longer a tax, the law was unconstitutional.
John henry amshewitz biography of barack obama president
The case was sent to an appeals court. A final ruling came in June when the U. Supreme Court voted , , to uphold the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the objecting states were not required to pay anything under the mandate provision and thus had no standing to bring the challenge to court. As of January , nearly On May 2, an elite team of U.
There were no American casualties, and the team was able to collect invaluable intelligence about the workings of al-Qaeda. Armed Forces. He became the first president to voice support for same-sex marriage in May As he did in , during his campaign for a second presidential term, Obama focused on grassroots initiatives. Representative Paul Ryan.
On November 6, , Obama won a second term as president, capturing more than 60 percent of the Electoral College. Obama officially began his second term on January 21, , when U. Their daughters, Malia and Sasha, were born in and , respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in , and then to the U. Senate in At the Democratic National Convention that summer, he delivered a much acclaimed keynote address.
Some pundits instantly pronounced him a future president, but most did not expect it to happen for some time. As an incoming president, Obama faced many challenges—an economic collapse, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continuing menace of terrorism. Inaugurated before an estimated crowd of 1. Obama also pressed for a fair pay act for women, financial reform legislation, and efforts for consumer protection.
In , Obama became the fourth president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In , he was reelected over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by to electoral votes. The midterm elections proved challenging, as Republicans gained a majority in both houses of Congress. His second term was marked by several international events.
In , Obama came out strongly against the use of chemical weapons on civilians by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, avoiding a direct strike on Syria when al-Assad agreed to accept a Russian proposal that it relinquish its chemical weapons. Perhaps the defining moment of his international diplomacy was his work on the Iran Nuclear Deal , which allowed inspectors into Iran to ensure it was under the pledged limit of enriched uranium in return for lifting economic sanctions.
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Biography of barack obama president: Painter, muralist and illustrator John Henry Amshewitz was born into a Jewish family in Ramsgate, England on 19 December (his father, Asher Amschejewitz, an Orthodox rabbi and scholar, born in Vilna, had come to the Montefiore College in Ramsgate in as a scholar in residence).
Email Updates. Barack Obama. Why Was the Election of Important? Watch now. Inaugural Address: Barack H. Obama An excerpt from Barack H. The Obama Years: A Nine-Part Oral History The former president and 24 other members of his administration weigh in on their proudest moments, their regrets and the belief that they left it all on the field.
When President Obama took office, he faced very significant challenges. The economy was officially in a recession, and the outgoing administration of George W. Bush had begun to implement a controversial "bail-out" package to try to help struggling financial institutions. In foreign affairs, the United States still had troops deployed in difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During the first two years of his first term, President Obama was able to work with the Democratic-controlled Congress to improve the economy, pass health-care reform legislation, and withdraw most US troops from Iraq. After the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in , the president spent significant time and political effort negotiating, for the most part unsuccessfully, with congressional Republicans about taxes, budgets, and the deficit.
After winning reelection in , Obama began his second term focused on securing legislation on immigration reform and gun control, neither of which he was able to achieve. When the Republicans won the Senate in , Obama refocused on actions that he could take unilaterally, invoking his executive authority as president.
In foreign policy, Obama concentrated during the second term on the Middle East and climate change.